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Reception
Reception is the 4th episode of the 1st season of Ben 10: Eternal Forms. Script EXT. STREETS OF BELLWOOD - NIGHT It’s dark. The streets are empty, with the exception of a few cars parked on the sides of the road. No one is outside, except for two people. Two men, running. One is a NEWS REPORTER, in a suit and carrying a microphone, and the other is a CAMERAMAN, holding a giant news station camera over his shoulder. The cameraman points up into the sky. CAMERAMAN There they are! We see three figures flying through the air above- one small, one large, and one small but glowing. They’re heading towards the woods. The two newsmen follow them. NEWS REPORTER Just think about it, Barry. "Ben Tennyson, missing for a week straight, finally found by Joss Kane, Channel 5 news." CAMERAMAN Are you sure it’s really him? NEWS REPORTER Of course! My journalist’s instinct never lies. Suddenly, a green flash of light comes from the air. The big one suddenly starts flying downwards, about to crash land somewhere in the woods. The newsmen dart after them. INT. BELLWOOD FOREST - MOMENTS LATER They are deep in the forest, right in front of a CRATER where the large figure landed. They crouch down behind a BUSH. The Cameraman turns on his camera and points it through the leaves. POV: CAMERAMAN’S CAMERA The camera is a little static-y, not the best sound quality. We see the large figure rise up from the dust cloud. It’s Kevin, mutated form. He picks himself up and dusts himself off, coughing a little. Turns his head to the sky. 2. KEVIN (shouting) Tennyson, you jerk! Ben as Jetray floats down, next to Kevin’s head but not touching the ground. JETRAY Hehe, you had it coming. KEVIN (threateningly) You wanna know what you’ve got coming? The third figure floats down and lands on the ground. It’s Gwen. She looks up at the two. GWEN Guys, calm down! Come on, let’s get out of here before anybody... She halts, and then turns around to look directly at the camera. GWEN ...sees us. Jetray and Kevin turn their heads to the camera too. BACK TO SCENE The newsmen look at each other, frightened. The News Reporter suddenly gets a determined look on his face, tightens his hold on the microphone. He stands up and walks over to them. NEWS REPORTER Hello, I’m Joss Kane from Channel 5 news, I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions. As he talks, Gwen grabs hold of Kevin’s arm, and they all lift off. They suddenly disappear in a flash of Jetray superspeed, leaving the news reporter standing alone in the clearing. END OF TEASER ACT 1 3. INT. TV SCREEN - DAY A fanfare plays as the screen patriotically transitions to a red, white and blue logo reading "Will Harangue Nation". It transitions again to a shot of WILL HARANGUE sitting behind a desk on the left of the screen with a few papers in his hands. The music fades into the background. WILL HARANGUE Hello and welcome to Will Harangue Nation, I’m Will Harangue. Our top story for today: A blurry picture from the scene earlier in the episode, with Jetray floating next to Kevin and Gwen coming down from the sky, fades in to his right. WILL HARANGUE Ben Tennyson, missing for seven days, was spotted last night in the woods outside of Bellwood plotting with two currently unknown alien cohorts. What is he up to? No one can know for sure, but I bet he’s helping coordinate some sort of alien attack on America and its innocent citizens. Then again, what can you expect from a boy who drops out of school in the middle of junior year and expects us to call him a hero? The same goes for his partner-in-crime cousin Gwen Tennyson and- The screen suddenly goes black as the TV is switched off. INT. BEN’S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS Gwen Tennyson is sitting on the couch in Ben’s living room, glaring at the now deactivated TV, holding the remote out towards it. Ben, as Spidermonkey, sits next to her. SPIDERMONKEY Wow, for a second there I thought you were going to blow the TV up. GWEN I was thinking about it. Kevin is by the front door, peeking through the peep hole. He turns his head to his friends. 4. KEVIN The paparazzi’s just getting bigger. GWEN (to Spidermonkey) You’re going to have to show yourself eventually, Ben. This is getting ridiculous. SPIDERMONKEY I know, I know, but... KEVIN You better do it soon, Tennyson, I’m starting to get sick of sleeping in caves. SPIDERMONKEY That was one night! KEVIN One night to many, if you ask me. SPIDERMONKEY The press was interviewing our parents, we couldn’t let them see us like this! GWEN (half mocking) You just don’t want to let your adoring fanbase down, isn’t that right? Spidermonkey doesn’t say anything, just purses his lips and glances at the door. SPIDERMONKEY Alright, alright. Now’s as good a time as any. He jumps on the floor and starts walking towards the exit. EXT. BEN’S HOUSE - FRONT YARD - CONTINUOUS Ben’s front lawn is completely crowded with news REPORTERS and paparazzi PHOTOGRAPHERS, lying in wait for a chance to catch the elusive superhero on camera. There’s so many of them that they flood half way out into the street, mingled with the TV NEWS TRUCKS. It’s quiet, but not completely. 5. Suddenly, the doorknob turns. The whole area goes silent as everyone holds their breath. The door opens, and slowly Gwen emerges from the house. She steps back and holds the door open as Spidermonkey walks out. Kevin phases through the wall behind him. Gwen closes the door and the three of them walk down the steps and halt. The crowd explodes. Everyone starts shouting and asking questions and flashing cameras at the same time. They charge forward, trying to get to Ben and the others and get him to answer their questions. Gwen puts up a mana shield to keep the mob from trampling them. SPIDERMONKEY (shouting) Everybody, STOP! The screaming subsides. They freeze, staring at him in apprehension. SPIDERMONKEY Okay people, let’s keep this civilized. I want all cameras on me, because I’m only going to do this once. He glances at a news reporter who is standing right up against Gwen’s shield. He points to her. SPIDERMONKEY You, lady in the white shirt. You wanna do the honors? The newslady’s face lights up, and she nods rapidly. Gwen lowers the shield, the lady walks forward. The rest of the paparazzi stays in place, aiming their cameras. The newslady stands next to Spidermonkey, looking down at him as if expecting something. Spidermonkey looks back, and raises an eyebrow. She glances around awkwardly, then crouches down so she is at eye level. NEWSLADY So, Ben Tennyson, the world wants to know: who exactly are these two new... others? She gestures to Gwen and Kevin. 6. SPIDERMONKEY Well, actually, they’re nobody new. (points to Gwen) That one’s Gwen, (points to Kevin) and that one’s Kevin. A murmur rises from the crowd. NEWSLADY Wait, really? Wha... what happened to them? SPIDERMONKEY We’d rather not go into the details, but let’s just say that something happened and they’re stuck like this. They’re still the same people inside, though. NEWSLADY I don’t mean to be rude, but why have you been in alien form for this entire public appearance? A rather long pause. SPIDERMONKEY Because... because I have no choice. I’m stuck. And from the looks of things, I’m never going to be able to turn into my human form again. NEWSLADY (shocked) Why not? SPIDERMONKEY Well, in the little fiasco I mentioned earlier that changed those two, I sorta... died. The crowd collectively gasps. SPIDERMONKEY My body did anyway. I had my mind transferred into the Ultimatrix so I can shift into any alien I want, but... my default form has been officially corrupted. I’m not human anymore. 7. INT. TV SCREEN - DAY Right after Spidermonkey says that line, the screen zooms out to the typical setting of the Will Harangue Nation show, with the picture of the last scene on the screen to Will Harangue’s left. WILL HARANGUE You heard it right, folks. Ben Tennyson is officially not one of us. Although, if you ask me, the only difference now is that what he looks like on the outside corresponds with who is really in on the inside. The picture fades out. WILL HARANGUE Viewers, let me ask you something. Do you really feel comfortable leaving your safety- as well as that of your family, your country, your planet- in the hands of three "heroes" that aren’t even our species? What’s keeping them from just abandoning Earth, even destroying it? Can we trust them? Will we trust them? As for that last question, if you ask me, my answer: "Not while I’m still breathing." People of the United States- no, People of Earth- I personally promise that I will take Ben Tennyson out of the picture if it is the last thing I do. Goodnight, everybody. The scene cuts to black, and a (real) commercial break begins. ACT II EXT. STREETS OF BELLWOOD - DAY It seems to be a normal day in downtown Bellwood. Everyone is simply going about their business, traffic is moving lazily down the road. 8. Then, all of a sudden, two cars are smashed out of the way by a giant rolling ball. (This is still rather normal for Bellwood, but, you know.) People around it panic and scatter. The ball ricochets off of a truck and rolls towards the sidewalk, but unrolls right before it can impact the building. It turns out to be an alien known as a Vulpanic Tortuga, which looks much like Ben’s alien Cannonbolt, except with a greenish yellow shell, dark grey skin, blue eyes, and a much larger body mass. It roars at the people on the sidewalk, who scream and run away. It punches through the glass window of the grocery store in front of it. It grabs some loaves of bread on display. Eats them whole. It is about to step into the store, but its attention is caught by a few pink energy disks bouncing harmlessly off its shell. It turns around. Gwen hovers just above the ground behind him. GWEN (taunting) Come and get me, you oversized pinball! The Vulpanic Tortuga snarls at her, then rolls up into a ball and charges. She puts up a shield to protect herself, but it doesn’t do much- her foe breaks through it as if it were paper. She is knocked to the other side of the street. It sharply changes direction and starts rolling down the road again. Gwen shakes off the blow and flies after it, shooting mana disks. It dodges easily. Suddenly, Kevin springs out of an alleyway, narrowly missing the Tortuga. It reacts by swerving into another alley on the other side of the road. But it is stopped by Ben as Fourarms. He pushes against it with open palms. It spins in place for a while, kicking up dust and smoke. 9. FOURARMS I’ve been the MVP goalie on the soccer team three years in a row! You’re not getting past me. The Tortuga burns out and stops, moaning. A beam of mana shoots at the alien. The blast splits just before it hits and wrapping itself around the alien. The mana digs between some cracks in its shell, prying it out of ball form. Gwen, who conjured the mana whip and is standing behind the alien, whirls around and makes a motion as if throwing a baseball, flinging it up high in the air. It flails around, trying to figure out what’s going on. Kevin seems to appear out of nowhere to right above and in front of it. He balls up both his primary hands, puts them behind his head, and hammers down on the Totuga. It rockets straight down and impacts with a truck below. KABOOM. Kevin notices the wreaked truck is the dust clears. KEVIN ...oops. Ben runs out of the alley and over to the wreckage. He grabs the alien by the foot using one of his top arms. Then uses his other arms to rip open the door of the truck to let the person in it out. The man gets out, but doesn’t run. He stands his ground, glaring angrily. TRUCK DRIVER (shouting angrily) Look what you did to my truck! FOURARMS I’m sorry sir, it was an accident... As he says that, the Tortuga begins coming to. TRUCK DRIVER (accusing) I don’t think you aliens understand how hard my life is going to be from now on because of this! 10. FOURARMS No no no, I get it, I’ve had my car totaled before, it’s a pain in the- TRUCK DRIVER (interrupting) Get a move on, you freak! Some other people on the side of the road start approaching angrily as well. Fourarms looks around at all of them, a bit frightened. FOURARMS Guys, I’m only trying to help... MAN 1 If it weren’t for you, these alien attacks probably wouldn’t even be happening! WOMAN 1 Yeah, we don’t want you here! Several people start shouting and booing at him. Fourarms is distracted by their jeers. Someone even picks up a rock and throws them at him, which hits him in the back of the head. He turns around and glares and growls at the one who did it. As this is happening, the alien seems to be getting a grasp on what is going on. It adjusts itself so that its mouth is facing Fourarms, then it half curls as if doing some strange, sorta painful bodily function, which it is. It hurls a loogie of weird yellow-green acidic gunk right at him. Fourarms screams in pain and drops the Tortuga, trying desperately to wipe off the now sizzling gunk. The alien rolls up and gets a good distance away before stopping, turning around, and snarling at Fourarms as if challenging him to a battle. FOURARMS Everybody, get back! Fourarms tries to usher the crowd back, which seems to be working. He turns around to face his enemy, but by the time he does it is already rolling towards him full speed. Without any time to dodge or think, he puts his arms over his body and braces for impact. 11. Right before it hits, a ramp of pink energy forms right in front of him, sending the alien flying over his head and the crowd as well. It lands some ways away and into the street behind, which leads out of Bellwood. It rolls off into the distance, around a corner, and out of sight. Gwen and Kevin walk over to Fourarms, Gwen putting the ramp down. KEVIN ...and it got away. GWEN (defensively) Well what else was I supposed to do? They stop next to Fourarms, then follow his uneasy gaze out to the group before them. Everyone is staring at them in cold fury. Gwen nervously puts her hand on Fourarm’s back in a comforting gesture. GWEN (softly) Come on, let’s go. Ben turns from Fourarms to Big Chill, then the three lift off and fly away. The crowd keeps glaring. INT. WILL HARANGE NATION HEADQUARTERS - CONTINUOUS The shot of the crowd suddenly gains a slightly grainy texture, as if on a TV screen. The camera zooms out and we see a dark room with four big TVs, one of them with that shot, and each of the others with a still of Fourarms, Gwen, or Kevin. Sitting in front of these screens is Will Harangue, half cast in shadow, his chin resting on his hands. He grins diabolically. INT. BEN’S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - DAY Ben as Big Chill and Gwen walk in through the door of Ben’s house. Kevin is not with them. Ben’s mom Sandra comes to greet them at the entrance. Gwen stops for a moment to talk to her, but Big Chill continues to walk without pause. 12. GWEN Thanks again for letting me stay these couple of nights, Aunt Sandra. SANDRA No problem, Gwenny dear. (beat) I suppose your parents aren’t taking this very well, are they? Big Chill slows down and turns his head, his interest piqued. GWEN (uneasily) They never really came to terms with the whole their-daughter-is-an-alien thing. Big Chill looks to the ground, then keeps walking. GWEN (O.S.) I guess they have no choice but to face the facts now. Big Chill opens the door to his room, enters, and slams it behind him. INT. BEN’S HOUSE - BEN’S ROOM - NIGHT Ben is sitting on the ground, back against his desk, as Brainstorm. He seems to be in deep, solemn thought. There is a knock on the door, pulling him halfway back into reality. BRAINSTORM Who beckons? GWEN It’s Gwen. BRAINSTORM You may proceed. Gwen slowly opens the door and walks in. She is carrying a glass of thick, pink-purple liquid with small black dots floating around in it and a straw poking out the top. She walks over to Brainstorm and sits down beside him, leaning on the desk. She offers the glass to him. GWEN I made you a smoothie. Er, tried at least. Thought it might cheer you up. 13. Brainstorm takes the smoothie in his claw and examines it. GWEN (slightly embarrassed) Just a warning, I’m not much of a cook. Brainstorm takes a sip from the straw, pulls it out of his mouth, and closes his eyes for a moment in analysis. BRAINSTORM Your judgment is without flaw in that your culinary skills are quite lacking. Gwen smiles and chuckles softly. GWEN So, what’ve you been thinking about? BRAINSTORM And what makes you suppose that I have been thinking? GWEN Ben, come on, you’re Brainstorm. Obviously you’re mulling something over. So, what’s on your mind? Brainstorm sighs. BRAINSTORM Well, I have concluded with unequivocal certainty that the majority of beings on this planet despise my existence to the point where the inhabitants would be more pleased than not if I were to abandon this planet. GWEN (distressed) No, that’s not true! BRAINSTORM I have done the calculations, Gwendolyn, and have verified the solution 132 times with 5 distinct methods. I am correct. 14. GWEN Ben, I don’t care how smart you are right now, people aren’t something that can be laid out in an equation. BRAINSTORM In actuality, doing so, while not an exact science, can give me a range of possibility- GWEN (irked) Would you just stop being Brainstorm for a minute and listen to what I’m saying without plugging my words into a math problem? This outburst shocks Brainstorm a bit. After a minute of thought, he reaches down to the Ultimatrix and turns it, transforming into Chromastone. GWEN Everyone will come around this time, just like they did last time. All you need to do is prove that you’re still you on the inside, and everything will be fine. I know it. CHROMASTONE But... how can you be so sure? Gwen shrugs. GWEN My gut is telling me so. And honestly, if you can’t trust an Anodite’s gut, what can you trust? Chromastone slowly grins at her. She grins back. Suddenly, Chromastone’s chest badge starts beeping, and Kevin’s voice comes out of it. KEVIN (O.S.) The Tortuga was spotted in front of the mall in the next town. GWEN We’ll meet you there, Kevin. Kevin hangs up. 15. GWEN Come on, let’s go. EXT. MALL PARKING LOT - DAY Even though it’s the middle of the day, the parking lot in front of the mall is completely void of any cars, save for a few on the fringes. But there is a huge crowd gathered around a good ways away from the center, watching. Several news cameras are mixed in among them. A large TV screen is mounted on the side of the mall. There are no aliens in sight. Ben as Chromastone, Gwen and Kevin touch down in the center. They look around, confused. CHROMASTONE What’s going on? Where’s the Tortuga? WILL HARANGUE (O.S) (through an intercom) This Tortuga thing isn’t what you should worry about right now. The three look up at the source of the voice. The huge screen suddenly activates, revealing the face of Will Harangue. WILL HARANGUE You three are a threat to the entire planet, so I’ve decided to take it into my own hands to eradicate you all. CHROMASTONE Okay, two things. One, I’m not a threat, and two, I’d like to see you try. WILL HARANGUE Enjoy your last moments on this planet, Tennyson. When I’m finished with you there won’t even be a body left to bury here. Gwen puts on a grossed out expression. GWEN Ew! Chromastone takes a fighting stance. 16. CHROMASTONE Bring it on, Harangue! WILL HARANGUE Assassin drones, assemble! The sound of propeller blades fills the air as three helicopters come into view. From each of them, a humanoid figure falls out. They land on the ground before the main trio with a big crash, on their feet in dramatic poses. The figures appear to be humanoid robots, designed to resemble ninjas. Each is about 7 feet tall; red, white and blue with some star patterns, very overly patriotic. Each is slightly different, and has a different base color for the head: there is the red bot, the blue bot, and the white bot. KEVIN (slightly disappointed, disbelieving, flat toned) ...seriously. GWEN Talk about tacky. CHROMASTONE Okay, now you’re just trying to hard. WILL HARANGUE Attack! The robots suddenly leap into the air. Gwen, almost bored, raises a hand and puts up a mana shield. All three of the robots land on top of it in crouching positions with a loud and hard thud. She suddenly gets a lot more into it, wincing and putting up both her hands. The white bot pulls back his hand and punches right through the center of the shield, shattering the center of it but leaving the sides, which the other robots stood on, in tact. Gwen squeezes her eyes shut, shudders, and drops down to one knee. The white bot gracefully swings through the hole and double kicks Kevin in the face. The blue bot leaps into the air and out of sight. Gwen, still trying to regain her focus on the shield, doesn’t notice the blue bot landing silently right behind her. 17. It preforms a spinning reverse roundhouse kick to the side of her head. THWACK. She shouts in pain and falls to the ground. The shield disappears. The red bot, the last one on the shield, does a front handspring. Launches itself into the air just as the platform vanishes. It flips over once, sticking out one of its legs. Chromastone looks up at it in surprise. The ninja bot’s dropkick lands right in his face. He is sent stumbling back to land on his back next to Kevin and Gwen, who were both on the ground recovering from the blows as well. The ninja bots regroup in front of them and strike fancy poses again. ACT III EXT. MALL PARKING LOT - DAY Will Harangue smirks at them from the TV screen. WILL HARANGUE Not so tough now, are you, Tennyson? CHROMASTONE (pained) I gotta admit, I’m impressed. But still not enough! Chromastone leaps to his feet and shoots a rainbow energy blast right at the white bot. The armor plates on its arms begin to shift, and two large mirrors emerge from its forearms. It holds them up in front of itself like a shield, redirecting the beam at the ground, then steadily angling it so it burns a line across the asphalt and finally is aimed right at Kevin. Kevin puts up his Brainstorm shield. KEVIN (angrily) Ben, watch it! Ben stops firing his laser. 18. WILL HARANGUE You remember the spider bot, right? I used the same data to make these beauties, only improved. They know all your moves. CHROMASTONE Really? Well, that doesn’t matter, I’ve gotten a few new moves since then! He slams down on the Ultimatrix and shifts forms to Armadrillo. ARMADRILLO (battle cry) ARMADRILLO! He buries his fists into the ground, and the metal pumps on his elbows begin to go up and down rapidly. The screen shakes as an earthquake begins. Fissures travel along the parking lot in the direction of the ninja bots. The bots simply jump in the air and activate their rocket boots, which they apparently possess, and hover above the mess, staring at him with their arms crossed. Realizing that it isn’t working, Armadrillo stops. WILL HARANGUE I’ve been researching your new aliens as well. There’s not a creature you can turn into that my robots don’t know exactly what to do with! The red bot flies right up to him. He begins to pull his hands out of the ground, but before he can the bot punches him right in the stomach. The crowd, seeming to have gotten over any nervousness they had when the fight began, start to cheer. Kevin turns to look at them. KEVIN Hey, stop cheering for him! GWEN Kevin, ignore them. 19. Gwen’s mana hair splits into tendrils, and she summons some mana into her hands, rises off of the ground. Kevin unsheathes his Rath claw, takes a wide fighting stance. Ben backs up towards them, switching from Armadrillo to Humongosaur. Back to back to back. The blue bot lunges at Humongosaur, its fingers morphed into razor sharp claws. Humongosaur catches the bot out of the air and chucks it across the parking lot. Charges after it, roaring furiously. Gwen zips towards the red bot, looking like she’s about to ram it. It braces itself. Last second, she changes directly slightly and flies just past it. As she goes by, she grabs its leg with a mana tendril and trips it. Falls on its face. (In background, Humongosaur changes to Echo Echo.) The white bot charges Kevin. He grabs at it with his claw. It backs up, dodging. Pulls out a shoulder gun a la SixSix. Kevin punches, claw lands in the barrel. It explodes in a cloud of smoke and electricity. Hurts the bot a lot more than Kevin. (In background, Echo Echo goes Ultimate Echo Echo.) The crowd boos. Ultimate Echo Echo has backed the blue bot up against the wall of the mall. He sends out four sonic disks, which he controls to go around it. But as they fly towards then, the bot shoots them down with finger dart lasers. The bot jumps high in the air, then lands down on Ultimate Echo Echo’s back. It does a fancy karate takedown on him, pulling his legs out from under him then pushing his face into the dirt. It stomps on him repeatedly, then picks him up by the arm and tosses his to the side of the parking lot. The crowd cheers. Hearing that, Ultimate Echo Echo does not get up and continue to fight. Dismayed, he retreats a little, crawling behind a dumpster. Sits, hugs his legs. ULTIMATE ECHO ECHO Oh, what’s the point! Maybe I should just give up and turn myself in... No, Harangue would kill me. He sighs and buries his face in his knees. 20. ULTIMATE ECHO ECHO (cont., dejectedly) But even if I do win, if he doesn’t kill me, someone else will. Everyone wants to. I should just leave Earth, everyone would be happier that way... Back in the fight, Kevin is having some issues with the white bot. He tries to hit it, but it keeps dodging and generally ninja-ing around all his strikes. Gwen grabs all four of the red bot’s limbs with her mana hair. She pulls, begins to yank the arms and legs off. The bots chest opens, revealing a blaster. Catches her offguard. It fires a powerful laser right into her stomach. She howls in pain. Ultimate Echo Echo is still behind the dumpster. He hears Gwens screaming, followed by the roaring of a pleased crowd. He looks physically pained. Torn between hiding and helping, he peeks out to see what’s going on. Kevin is still trying to get to white bot off of him to no avail. It’s clung onto his back. He’s stumbling around, trying to get it off. The blue bot stands a little ways away, aiming a laser sight at him. But then, Kevin jerks out of the way. The laser sight’s target becomes what was right behind him- the forehead of a woman in the audiance, standing next to her husband and their teenage son. They have no time to react. Kevin sees what’s going on. He tries to move towards them. KEVIN No! The white bot smashes its fists against the sides of his head, knocking him out. The blue bot fires, and the potent beam flies right at the family. Then, suddenly, in a blue and black blur, XLR8 appears. He moves right in front of the family, back to the bot. Takes the hit. He hollers in agony as the beam continuously hits him for a few seconds. It stops, and he collapses to the ground, unconcious. Everyone stops in stunned silence. 21. WILL HARANGUE (to the bots) What are you waiting for, finish him! The blue bot takes aim with his hand cannon again at the unmoving XLR8. It’s about to fire, but suddenly something happens. The woman who was almost shot steps in the line of fire, arms out to the side, looking determined. The bot lowers its weapon. TARGETED WOMAN No. WILL HARANGUE (annoyed) Out of the way, lady, I’m trying to do some justice here. TARGETED WOMAN (furious) This isn’t justice, this is murder! WILL HARANGUE What are you talking about, that thing is a monster, look at it! She pauses for a moment and looks back at XLR8. She looks uncomfortable for a second, but gets over it. She closes her eyes and rolls her fingers up into fists, then turns back to the screen. TARGETED WOMAN Well, that thing just saved my life! Tell me, Harangue, if he’s such a monster who doesn’t care about the human race, why did he do it? WILL HARANGUE (at a loss) Uh, well... I... TARGETED WOMAN Ben Tennyson has never gone out of his way to hurt an innocent, and he’s certainly not going to start now. He... he may not look like it, and this goes for his friends too, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a person. 22. (to Will Harangue, seething) And he’s no doubt ten times the man you are, you coward. Will Harangue looks like he’s about to explode in fury. WILL HARANGUE (shouting, finally cracked) TRAITOR! That’s what you are, a traitor to your own kind! So be it. I don’t care if there’s four of your or four THOUSAND of you, I WILL win this war! KILL HER! KILL THOSE MONSTERS! The blue bot raises its hand again and begins charging a blast. The red dot of the laser sight lands on her forehead again. She stands her ground. Just then, the husband steps in between the woman and the bot. It hesitates. HUSBAND If anyone’s a monster here, it’s you! The teenage son joins he father. SON Yeah! Another audiance member steps up. AUDIANCE MEMBER 1 If you want Ben Tennyson, you’ll have to go through us first. One by one, and soon several at a time, the members of the audiance gather around XLR8. Soon, everyone who had come to watch was gathered around him. WILL HARANGUE (hysterical) NO! WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING? DON’T YOU GET IT, HE’S THE ENEMY! HE’S GOING TO KILL US ALL! HE’S THE MONSTER HERE, GET HIM! GWEN (O.S.) It’s over, Harangue. Will Harangue looks down. We see Gwen, sitting on the pavement, recently recovered from the earlier blow. 23. GWEN It’s over. You lose. Will Harangue looks at Gwen with wide, maniacal eyes. Then at the crowd. At Kevin, who’s getting up. Back to Gwen. The crowd. Gwen. The floor. He presses a button near him, and the screen goes black. The three bots all shut down, going rigid and toppling over onto their sides. The crowd cheers, louder than ever before. GWEN (smiling to herself) Cut and scene. In the center of the mass of people, XLR8 begins to stir, moaning. The man and woman from the family he save kneel down beside him. The woman clutches one of his claws worriedly. TARGETED WOMAN Ben, are you alright? XLR8 (lathargic) Gwen? Gwen, is that you? He realizes what’s going on. XLR8 Are... are you okay? TARGETED WOMAN Are you? XLR8 (smiling) Been better. She and her husband get under XLR8’s arms and help him too his feet, after which he is able to walk on his own. He makes his way through the crowd, and everyone grins at him. Some even give him high-fives. He’s confused. Gwen and Kevin are waiting for him when he gets out of the throng. GWEN I told you they’d come around. He finally gets it. He smiles. 24. EXT. MALL PARKING LOT - LATER It’s the evening. The parking lot is now filled with police cars, collecting the patriotic ninja robots. The team is watching from the sidelines, pleased with themselves. Ben is still XLR8. GWEN (commenting on his form) Wow, haven’t seen that guy in a while. XLR8 Had to think fast. She stares at him in a disapproving way. He realizes what he just said. XLR8 ...no pun intended, of course. KEVIN We never did get that Tortuga, did we? XLR8 It’ll show up eventually. Anyway, we better head home. GWEN Good idea, I’m exhausted. KEVIN Let’s go. They start walking off together. Once the get to the street, Gwen turns one way while XLR8 and Kevin turn another. The boys stop and look back at her, confused. XLR8 Gwen, my house is that way. GWEN I know. But... I think I’m going to sleep at my house tonight. She turns back at them and smiles. XLR8 smiles back, proud. She walks away. Ben and Kevin continue on their own path as the screen begins to fade. 25. KEVIN I can still stay at your place, right? The screen goes black. Category:Episodes Category:Ben 10: Eternal Forms Category:Binkatong